With Halloween just around the corner, it's time to break out the spookiest flicks that the world
of sadistic cinema has to offer. These are just a few of the freakiest movie moments of all time.
"The Babadook" is one of the most emotionally rich and
thematically compelling horror movies in recent memory. It's also scary as
hell. Director Jennifer Kent uses the titular monster as a stand-in for grief,
trauma, and mental illness, proving once again that our greatest monsters are always metaphors.
It helps that, you know, the Babadook is really good at appearing suddenly and without warning.
In the film's scariest scene, widowed mother Amelia is trying to sleep,
but there's a noise coming from a particularly dark corner of her bedroom.
Paralyzed with fear, she watches as something moves in the shadows.
We catch quick glimpses of limbs and shapes. We hear its croaking voice. And then …
What's it say about a filmmaker's talent and a horror film's overall potency when
a memorable trailer scare becomes a defining ghoulish image in the genre's recent history?
James Wan's "Insidious" places The Lamberts in a household under siege by demonic villains. Josh
and Renai Lambert's children become targets for a resident of The Further dubbed "Man With Fire On
His Face," an evil entity who some might presume is cosplaying Darth Maul at a quick glance.
For a now-infamous scare, Lorraine Lambert — played by Barbara Hershey — describes
a dream about the red-faced demon as both Josh and Renai intently listen.
As she concludes, stressing the nightmare's implications, well…
"I can still hear that voice."
You know that clichéd scene in horror movies where a character hears a scary noise and
inexplicably thinks it would be a good idea to just look underneath their bed? Well,
one of the reasons it became a cliché is because generations
of horror directors were scarred by the infamous clown scene from "Poltergeist."
Robbie is understandably creeped out by a clown doll in his room, and things only get scarier…
Can you guess where the clown is now?
Apparently, once you become a parent, your perspective on fear changes. Your priorities
shift, and the things that terrify you are less insular. They extend to your children, what may
happen to them, or your inability to protect them. Such is the case with "Train to Busan."
After being told Daejeon station was safely secured by the military, the passengers disembark
to find that they've all been infected. Seok-woo left his little girl, Soo-an,
in what he thought was a safe area. Meanwhile, Sang-hwa thought he was escorting his pregnant
wife, Seong-kyeong, to safety, only to realize they were walking directly into harm's way.
Ravenous, the wave of zombies moves like a brush fire,
consuming everything in its path in the blink of an eye. It can't be contained,
so they have to run. But Seok-woo doesn't make it in time, and he has to watch as Soo-an is nearly
killed, only to be saved by Sang-hwa and Seon g-kyeong as they run for the door.
David Fincher is an absolute thrill master, but few moments in his filmography are as arrestingly
terrifying as the reveal of the "Sloth" victim in 1995's "Se7en."
Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are two detectives tasked with investigating a series of murders
inspired by the seven deadly sins. The duo follows a SWAT team leader named California to the scene
of a crime where the skeletal, almost zombie-like body of a drug dealer and known child molester
lay lifeless and restrained to a bed with "SLOTH" written above him on the wall.
California leans in, disgusted by the man's crimes, and says:
"You got what you deserved.
"He's alive! He's alive!"
Hide and Clap from "The Conjuring" is, without question, one of the great jump
scares of the 21st century, if not of all time. It's uncomplicated, succeeding because of its
simplicity rather than in spite of it. But, like with any recipe, it's the skill of the chef that
dictates the final quality of the dish. In that regard, James Wan masterfully wields Chad and
Carey W. Hayes' script, transforming it into a masterclass on building and releasing tension.
It presents an ordinary and relatable scenario — a mother, exhausted, folding laundry while
her kids should be asleep. She hears a noise, and suspects they're out of bed.
Despite the fact that the audience knows something supernatural is about to happen,
they have no idea what it will be or where it will come from.
Then the movie reminds you that it can — and will — come from anywhere.
"Wanna play hide and clap?"
Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza showcase the limitless intimacy of fear through
found footage in 2007's "[REC]," one of the subgenre's supreme accomplishments.
Spanish reporter Ángela and her cameraman Pablo hope to informatively document a
fireman's brigade on their overnight duties but instead become quarantined
inside a viral-dangerous apartment complex. As Angela and Pablo eventually find themselves
trapped within a Vatican agent's upstairs penthouse, the attic hatch swings open.
You know what’s going to happen next...
"Don't you understand, Rachel? ...She never sleeps."
A great jump scare doesn't take much in the way of gimmicks. Rather, it's reliant on
an understanding of human behavior. Emotional cues can put people in a state of calm or panic
depending on a million different factors. "The Ring" dials that impact up to 11.
After her niece Katie's funeral, Rachel and her son go to the wake at her sister's house.
It's a somber event, a place of great mourning. The mood is inescapably bleak, but also still.
Both Rachel's sister and brother-in-law are lost in their own lives, without a clue how
to navigate their grief. It's sad. All she wants to do is help ease her sister's pain.
How does a 16-year-old's heart just ... stop?
"I saw… her face."
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